Pursuit
by Breadwing
Summary: When Cloudstriker crashes into Earth, all she wants is to find her trine mates, but given the size of the universe it seems impossible. How can she cope with being on an alien world without knowing where they are and if they're safe?  Don't own the series
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hello First Transformers story here, wanted to post today in honour of DotM coming out in Britain. I've had this idea and oc in my head for ages, I just had to write about her. I hope you guys like it! And by the way, I don't mind flames at all, just so long as they're not just 'You're shit' and more 'This, this and this are crap' so I can improve xD Concrit is best though :L Enjoy!**

"_**this means a bot is comm. linking"**_

…

She was plummeting faster than she could comprehend. Her sensors had turned themselves off in an attempt to preserve energon and because of the blistering heat she had gained, the same heat that was quickly increasing, encasing her entire body. Her crash course was set to end in a collision with an organic planet known by its natives as 'Earth'; not many of her kind had ventured so far but, unlike Cloudstriker, most had a choice.

Her systems put her in stasis lock just after entering 'Earth's' atmosphere to protect her spark and pain receptors from the immense trauma it was about to take, her descent was nearly at an end. After what seemed like hours, but was in fact only minutes, her journey came to an abrupt halt. The shockwaves that reverberated around the crash site rang on for minutes, the vibrations from the initial blow created tremors that travelled for miles before petering out.

After only a few days of being in stasis lock and isolation, Cloudstriker was finally found. A scout had picked up her faint energy signal and she was uncovered at last. He looked over her still chassis and whirred in worry, while contacting his friend, a CMO, through their comm. link _'Ratchet, I need some help.'_

_'What with now?'_

_'New arrival.'_

And that was all it took for Ratchet to reply with an _'On our way.'_

The scout clicked in relief and looked over the Cybertronian again. From the look of their chassis, she was a femme and pretty beat up. There were burns on her armour and sensitive wings from when she entered the atmosphere, a few sparking wires and (More worryingly) leaking energon and coolant. Her wings were the most badly damaged from the impact, because they were more exposed and had less armouring than the rest of her frame. His optics seemed to darken as he surveyed the damage, realising he didn't have any medical protocol downloaded to his processor and so couldn't do anything to help. He resigned himself to waiting, when he noticed something unusual about her. His spark jumped. This new femme was a neutral; there was no sign of any symbol on her, Autobot or otherwise.

Well, at least she was a friendly.

…

Being trapped in one's own processor is every bit as unpleasant as it sounds and more. Cloudstriker could hear everything going on around her, such as the wind whispering through the trees and the organic, near microscopic organisms running around, but she couldn't see or move her chassis. Essentially it was a 'robo-coma'. When she heard ginormous shuffling feet and Cybertronian being spoken, she longed to reply. Imagine her luck! Not five minutes on this dirt ball planet and she had already been found - and by someone of her own species as well.

It wasn't long (Perhaps a stellar cycle or two?) after this revelation when she heard rumbling tires closing in on her crash site. There were metallic grindings and screeching as the familiar sounds of transformations met her audio receptors. It would have been comforting if she wasn't terrified that it was a Decepticon. Wishing she could do something other than lay there in stasis, she cringed as steady footsteps made their way to her. Then something clicked in her processor: if it was a Decepticon it would've attacked her by now. If she could've, Cloudstriker would've visibly relaxed... Until a terrifying thought passed through her helm. What if she was going to be an interface toy? She'd heard stories back on Cybertron before it was destroyed about femmes being taken in by the Decepticreeps, only to be offlined when they were past their sell by date.

Suddenly she could feel a weird tingling sensation, she was being scanned. Maybe she was being examined to see if she was suitable? Either way, Cloudstriker was terrified. Then she heard voices; the Cybertronians who had come for her were talking.

"The damage is extensive; we should get her back to the base."

'_They're going to help me?'_Cloudstriker thought as she let her guard down slightly, why would a Decepticon help anyone other than themselves? She cringed inside again as she felt the sensation of lifting. Although Cloudstriker didn't think they were Decepticons anymore she was still nervous of them, she was in a very vulnerable position and there was absolutely nothing she could do.

…

It was a long ride to her saviour's/captor's base. A long, boring ride. She thanked Primus that her pain receptors had turned off in her crash; otherwise there would've been a raw, throbbing ache on top of her boredom. _'Dear Primus, their base is far away'_ she thought, wishing she could move or talk to the other Cybertronians, anything to alleviate the mundane feelings settling over her. She knew that if she _could_move she'd be fidgeting, Cloudstriker was never one to sit still. She heard muttered conversations over her chassis that she couldn't understand _'Probably this planet's native language, or at least one of them.'_She thought glumly, sick of having only herself to talk to. She was going _insane._

Suddenly there was a jolt as the convoy came to a halt, had they finally reached their destination? Apprehension bubbled up inside her, replacing the boredom that was there before. All of a sudden, she didn't want this journey to end. _'If they aren't Decepticons, then they must be Autobots or neutrals. Either works for me... Then again it could still be a trick.'_Cloudstriker had plenty of time to ponder this as she was hauled up to what she supposed to be the medical bay. Seeing as she was still in stasis lock, she couldn't online her optics to see if she was right or not, but it was only logical to assume that that was where she was going. It was pretty much confirmed that that was where she was as she felt a sedative travelling around her frame, making her feel light headed and woozy. She was out like a light.

…

Ratchet surveyed the damage done to this new femme's body, it was "pretty bad" as Bumblebee had put it. Her energon and coolant lines were ruptured in several places, though fortunately, her main energon line going to her spark only suffered slight damage. Her chassis was burnt badly, if he was going on the human scale he'd say second degree burns, there was slight damage to her protoform through the thin armour, especially on her wings, so they would need "patching up" so to speak _'come to think of it, why is her armour so thin?'_he thought, frowning. There were several dents that needed hitting out before he could tend to the burns, the welding could detach after he'd attached the patches. Then there was the issue of stasis lock and bringing the new femme out of it after all of this. The shock of her injuries might offline her.

Sighing, he got to work, wishing that this damned war could just finish. So many casualties had been caused already back on Cybertron and then there was Jazz. _'Jazz.'_Ratchet sighed heavily again and tore his thoughts away from his comrade, it would do him no good to think of the dead when a bot needed help to be kept with the living. He pulled his medical supplies out of his subspace and got to work trying to fix the new arrival's injuries, his spark a little heavier than before.

'_What was that quote the humans used to say? Ah, yes: "Get busy living or get busy dying"'_

…

**A/N What did you think? Were the few TF characters shown in character? I didn't think Ratchet would be all crazy and wrench wielding when he'd gotten a new patient in, despite what some fanfics may say so I tried to keep to the 'make lurrrve not war' aspect of him ;) And tell me if it's too long or short! I'm never to certain about how much to write...**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N It's me again :D Thank you so much for the reviews and story alerts! You guys are awesome. I'm trying to make the chapters longer so hopefully this won't be as short as chapter 1 The next chapter is nearing 3000 words, so I'm going to try and make that my average.**

"_**this means a 'bot/'con is comm. linking"**_

**One vorn = 83 years**

**...**

Groggily, Cloudstriker fought the sedative running through her cables, struggling to wake up. _'Wait, wake up?' _She realised that someone must have taken her out of stasis lock and could've cried out with happiness; she wasn't stuck in her shell of a helm anymore! Thank Primus - and the sedative - that she still had an ounce of dignity and a whole lot of tranquiliser in her chassis, she couldn't exactly start screaming for joy just yet. Her optics slowly onlined themselves, there was static around the edges from lack of use - just how long had she been out? Unfortunately, just as the static was receding, her pain receptors decided it would be a great time to make themselves known. A dull, throbbing ache spread through her frame and she shuddered, trying to suppress the low whine that was trying to make its way out of her vocalizer.

A door slammed open and two arguing mechs traipsed in, seemingly unaware that Cloudstriker was online and squinting at them. Her pain was momentarily (If that was possible) forgotten as she looked on and tried to listen in, but the static had gotten to her audio receptors too. The dull pain came back in a rush making her hiss, which fortunately - or unfortunately as the case may be - got the two mechs' attention. They stared at her for a second and Cloudstriker did her best to stare back before one muttered in Cybertronian to the other "Go get da Hatchet." The other nodded and set off at a quicker pace than before to a door that she hadn't noticed; well she hadn't had much time to look for it either before those two noisy bots decided to disrupt her painful rebooting

"What do you want, Mudflap?" Ratchet's voice seemed exasperated as it rang out from his office, then again it _was_ Mudflap.

"Well, yous told us to tell you when da femme woke up."

Instantly this had Ratchet's attention and he swept out of his office - well as much as a 24 foot robot can sweep - to see if any of the femme's data bank had been damaged and to check her vitals. Skids was standing uncomfortably off to side under Cloudstriker's scrutinizing stare, fidgeting. He immediately perked up when his twin came to stand by his side and nudged him... Well it was more of a punch on the arm really. Mudflap punched his brother's arm back which provoked Skids into nearly getting him in a headlock before Ratchet decided to intervene. Of course Ratchet's way of 'intervening' was actually smacking the two on the head with a wrench, like all good medics do.

"Stop fooling about you two and go sit on a berth!"

The twins trudged off mumbling and nudging one another as Ratchet scanned Cloudstriker. She'd been lying there, watching them interact with a bemused smile on her face plates. _'No mechs as goofy as those could be Decepticons, but I guess there _is _that little mini-bot that Soundwave created...' _she thought, cringing as the tingly sensation of being scanned washed over her. She turned her helm with a little difficulty because of the pain to see the offending Cybertronian. It was a garishly yellow armoured mech with an annoyed expression _'Hopefully it's at the other two mechs'. _He began asking Cloudstriker questions in Cybertronian, "Can you speak?"

Her vocalizers crackled with static put she managed a choked "Yes."

"Good. What's your designation?"

"Cloudstriker."

"Hmmm," he paused, comm. linking Optimus _**"Prime, can you get down here? The neutral's awake."**_

Optimus quickly replied _**"On my way."**_

Nodding to himself, Ratchet tuned back in to his surroundings and looked down at the femme. "I'm going to tell you some basic information about this planet, stop me if you become confused."

Cloudstriker nodded slightly, not trusting her vocalizers enough to speak, it ached _a lot _when she even said one word. That and this mech was slightly intimidating, not Decepticon intimidating - not by a long shot - but it was sufficient in that she felt uncomfortable and awkward.

"This planet is known as 'Earth' by the locals. I can't disclose our current location, so don't ask. I also took the liberty of downloading several of the different native languages onto your processor while you were in stasis."

Cloudstriker bristled, she didn't like the idea of a strange mech (Albeit one of the ones who saved her) randomly downloading programs onto her processor without her say-so. In fact if she could've, Cloudstriker would've told him that. However, the sedative had taken its toll and she was simply too drained, despite her being out for Primus knows how long.

"The leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, is on his way to explain the rest." When Ratchet said basic information, he _meant_ it. He wasn't about to reveal anything more to an unfamiliar femme unless Optimus gave him the go ahead, they didn't know if she would betray them or not yet. There was a stunned silence afterwards. Well, Cloudstriker was stunned anyway. _'A Prime is _here_? I've never seen one before who would talk to somebot of lower caste... what do I _do, _what do I _say_?' _ she thought desperately to herself, her optics were getting wider by the second. However, time wasn't on her side as Optimus himself chose to stride through the med bay door right at that moment.

Cloudstriker went rigid.

Optimus looked at her and smiled slightly, "My name is Optimus Prime, what is your designation?"

"C-Cloudstriker." She managed through her static-y processor, stuttering both because of the pain and the fact she was in front of a _Prime. _Even_ t_hough she felt like knocking her helm onto a nice, thick steel wall for it, at least she had an excuse as to why she stammered - well that's what she told herself anyway.

"Cloudstriker, you are in the care of the Autobots now. If you can, can you tell us why you landed on Earth?"

She relaxed a little at his calm tone - only a little though. She coughed a little and started trying to get through her story "I escaped Cybertron when I heard what Megatron was planning - me and my trine had a plan that went wrong-"

"A trine? Were they neutrals too?" Ratchet asked

Cloudstriker half-heartedly glared at him, coughing static again "_Yes, _we all were. We were the few fliers that didn't pick a side and those who did mainly chose Megatron. Anyway, the plan went wrong and we were separated. I know they're still alive- it's our bond you see? But the distance is so far I can't contact them." She paused, dejected, thinking about how they got separated. Ratchet gave a small cough, prompting her to finish what she had started. Jerking in surprise, having gone so deep in to her thoughts she took a minute to regain herself before continuing, talking was getting a little easier on her vocal processor "I was floating aimlessly through the Universe (my escape pod ran out of fuel a few hundred years ago so I ditched it) when I heard the tail end of a message telling of a place called Earth that a few Autobots had taken up refuge in but an asteroid glanced off my comm. receiver before I heard who it was from... Who was it from?" She asked curiously

"It was from me." Optimus spoke up his smile more pronounced than before, though not in a cruel way; even so Cloudstriker could feel her cheek plates heating up.

"O-Oh, right. Thank you Prime, sir." She coughed again, this time it was a mix of embarrassment and the static that blemished her speech in places "In any case, I set my coordinates for this 'Earth' and found it in this secluded area, far away from Cybertron. I'm lucky I drifted into this sector. The orbit caught me and I had to use the last of my strength to get out of it and into the atmosphere with my boosters, which I reckon is why my injuries were so bad. I don't think the extra speed helped."

"What are the names of your trine mates?" Optimus was interested in whether he could've known them before the war.

Cloudstriker paused again for longer, looking more forlorn than before. "Blindside and Freefall." She muttered lowering her optics. Optimus nodded as Ratchet sent him a warning look. Time for Prime to stop bothering the patient.

"Visiting time's over Optimus, time to go." Ratchet broke the heavy silence that had settled over them.

"Thank you Cloudstriker, for answering our questions. Good bye, Ratchet. I'll see you both soon." He nodded to both of them before striding out again; he had incredible grace for someone so tall.

Cloudstriker looked up as she heard the door close; she'd just talked to a Prime - possibly one of the last surviving Primes! And she'd managed to hold her ground and not stumble over her words too much, give or take a few, even if she had rambled on a bit. She rubbed her throat a little as she watched Ratchet finally get round to seeing what was up with the other two mechs who had alerted him to her being awake – she thought she heard one was called Mudflap. All the talking had made her throat cables seize up a bit even though while she was having the conversation it didn't bother her too much. It didn't stop her snorting in amusement though as she saw the green one squirm and promptly get hit in the helm with a wrench.

Cloudstriker looked away, sighing. Her trine mates would've gotten a kick out of that, in fact she could just imagine their reactions; Freefall would be doing her weird little cackle-laugh and Blindside would be smirking, his optics lit up with amusement. Abruptly the laughter bubbling up inside of her dyed down. She wondered what her friends were doing, had they been captured? Were they looking for her? She poked their bonds, trying for a response, but just like every other time there was no reply. It was hard to survive as a single Cybertronian when she was used to being surrounded by her trine, Seekers were known for needing physical contact. In fact, Cloudstriker was surprised she hadn't gone insane due to being alone for so many vorns.

Trying to draw her attention away from these thoughts, she looked back to Ratchet and what she supposed were twins. The orangey coloured one was attempting an escape this time while Ratchet was fixing up his brother, but just as he was sidling to the door a wrench flew at lightning speed towards the creeping mech and hit him smack bang on the back of his helm.

'_...Remind me not to anger the medic.'___

**...**

Optimus entered the security room, lit by the many monitors. Mechs and humans were strewn across the different screens; there were cameras that were distributed across the base for security, despite Megatron being killed a few months ago in Mission City. Better to be safe than sorry. His optics came to rest on the big, black mech slouched down on his security shift. You could just tell Ironhide wished that Prowl or Red Alert were here to take this job so he could be done with it and go to do something he deemed useful like cleaning his weapons or testing them out. Pit, he could even deal with Red Alert's paranoia just to get out of this cramped room.

"What do you think Prime, is she a spy or just a neutral?" Ironhide, who had been watching the whole exchange through the monitors, asked. Optimus deliberated for a few minutes.

"I think we should leave it a few days to see how she interacts with us. As of right now, I'm leaning towards neutral."

Ironhide grunted and added gruffly "If that fails we can always try intimidation, she looked skittish to me."

Optimus smiled at his old friend "Hopefully it won't come to that; we may have gained a new ally today."

**...**

**Thoughts on chapter length, was it any better? And what do you think of Cloudstriker? I think she rambled on a little too much, but that's just me. Reviews are always appreciated :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Honestly I can't believe I've even gotten to chapter 3 xD Shows how much I love Transformers I guess. Thanks again for the reviews, I'm surprised I've gotten that many, so yeah, you guys are awesome!**

"_**This means a 'bot/'con is comm. linking"**_

**Solar cycle is one day**

**Processor projections are dreams (: but I'm sure you worked that out**

**...**

The days for Cloudstriker had crept by. Until the nanites in her energon had properly healed up all the welding on her cabling, wings and chassis, she couldn't leave the med bay. Not that was a bad thing. She wasn't exactly a confident femme and Ratchet entertained her when 'bots came in for their checkups or if they got damaged - Ironhide was always coming in after he was finished sparring and whoever the Primus forsaken sparring partner was limped over the threshold soon enough. By soon enough, she meant at least an hour; Ironhide just seemed to leave them there until they could move again, chuckling to himself. His most frequent sparring partners were Mudflap and Skids, so it was no surprise that other than Ratchet, Cloudstriker interacted with them the most. Ironhide just plain out scared her- he was a big mech with plenty of weaponry on him, only a fool in her position wouldn't be at the very least intimidated. Skids and Mudflap on the other hand seemed too goofy to offer any threat, what with their human slang and odd appearance. They were small as well, barely 12 feet tall, so why they tried to take on a 'bot twice as tall as them was beyond Cloudstriker.

About a week after she first collided with Earth, Ratchet and Cloudstriker had gotten more used to each other's company, in fact they were on the brink of being friends which was a first for her. She was never good at making friends easily - that was Blindside's job. Because of their almost friendship and observing him when there were no patients, she could tell that Ratchet seemed to be getting the med bay ready for something, he was concentrating even more on little precise details. She watched with curiosity as he put all his tools into their delegated places, then switched them up a bit and then cleaned them.

"What's happening, Ratchet?"

He paused from his work looking at her "New arrivals, why?" Short and to the point just as usual.

"Ah. You just seem to be more... 'Antsy' than usual. That's what the squishies say, right?"

"Humans, Cloudstriker. And anyway, we don't know what kind of state they'll be in. It might be another scenario like yours." He corrected her, frowning slightly at what she called the organics. That was the Decepticon way of referring to them.

Cloudstriker winced at the mention of her landing. Although her nanites and Ratchet were doing a good job of healing her up, there was still an energon drip going into her cables and a lot of pain when she wasn't drugged up – she was in a crash after all, you can't just get up and walk away completely unscathed. "Sorry Ratchet, I forget the names sometimes. I'm still new to all of this." _'And my processor's been spinning'_, it was hard trying to search the data packs Ratchet had downloaded for special terms when she was in pain and doped up on pain killers – Cybertronian style.

His face plates softened slightly and he began to work again, rearranging his small army of wrenches and tools again "It's to be expected, you've only been here a week"

"What is week?" she'd always been something of a forgetful femme, even with the data packs Ratchet had been giving her.

"One week is one orbital cycle in our terms." Ratchet answered, not pausing to look up from his work like he had before.

"Oh. Thank you, Ratchet." Cloudstriker at first had felt in over her head – hell, she still did - but Ratchet had been kind enough to tell her what all these crazy Earth terms that kept coming up meant when her processor was acting up _'If I could, I'd revert all their timings over to Cybertronian ones. It'd be so much easier! I bet the squish- I mean humans could pick it up.' _She went back to watching him again for a few hours, it was all there was to do really, until Ratchet suddenly stiffened. This was a sign he was talking on his comm. link, something important had obviously come up for him to just suddenly stop working. Abandoning his other supplies, he began getting the three berths across from Cloudstriker ready. Her spark leaped; what if two of them were her trine mates! It was possible; after all she herself had managed to land on this bizarre, distant planet.

"Sorry to bother you again, Ratchet, but do you know who is landing?"

"I do. Another set of pit spawned twins and our tactician." He seemed to shudder at the mention of the twins, wincing like Cloudstriker when a jolt of pain flashed through her systems. Cloudstriker looked down, thinking _'They must cause him a lot of distress, whoever they are... And whoever they are? They aren't my trine mates. Freefall would rather shoot herself than be a tactician and they most definitely aren't twins.' _She sighed heavily and looked back up at Ratchet.

"Are they that bad?" She asked sympathetically, her spark dropped again, what if they decided to do to her whatever they did to Ratchet?

"Yes. They are." He got out through gritted dentas. Having finished the berths, he went back to polishing his wrenches with renewed vigour - it was almost as if he were getting them ready for someone. Cloudstriker went back to thinking _'Well, I guess it's no one I know. Maybe I don't _want_ to know them with _that_ reaction.'_ She sighed, even though she knew there was a slim possibility of her friends even finding this planet, let alone trying to land on it, she had wished it was them and not the three already confirmed. Pit, they probably hadn't been close enough to hear Optimus' message. In fact, that was probably a given seeing as he couldn't even _talk_ to them with her bond. She rubbed her spark chamber; it was painful being without her trine for too long, always there hurting her very spark with the stretched distance between them. Having a bond was sort of like having an elastic band in your spark; if you were too far apart it would stretch and build up tension until it snapped or your bonded was near you again. The snapping could drive you insane.

Cloudstriker shook her helm carefully, trying to shake away the gloomy thoughts, and then grimaced at the pain with it. Obviously the nanites hadn't quite gotten round to that part.

**...**

Cloudstriker was lying on her berth (as she usually did) the next day, trying to sort through the data packs as she usually did. It was tricky for her, as her processor had decided now was the perfect time to act hazy and muddled. Movement distracted Cloudstriker from her thoughts of beating her helm against a wall to get the fog out, as she saw Ratchet spin around to the door at the hurried tapping of pedes. A yellow Autobot that Cloudstriker had seen a few times while he got his vocal processors repaired stood in the door way, wide-opticed.

"Ratchet, they're here."

Almost immediately afterwards, more pedes were heard distantly rushing down through the hangar outside. The yellow 'bot jumped aside to let the five mechs dash in. Optimus was carrying a slender black and white mech and Ironhide had two, a yellow one and a red one, given his size and strength. They were set on the berths with careful haste and Cloudstriker finally got a look at them.

They looked terrible.

It was obviously another crash landing. The black and white one had a blown out optic, several gashes across his chassis - one even dangerously close to his spark chamber. Red's condition was a little better, though not by much. He too had several deep gashes and a few burns, but neither of his optics were smashed and his spark chamber was undamaged. Yellow's condition was much the same, maybe even a little worse, his paintjob and armour were incredibly scratched up and he had a few more gashes littered about his chassis. All three of them were leaking copious amounts of energon and coolant.

After the privacy curtains were drawn around the berths, Ratchet began his long hours of medical work on black and white first; he had the worst injuries out of the three. When that mech's spark was stable and his cables welded, he began treating the broken optic. This was a tricky and more delicate procedure, but Ratchet was definitely skilled in his job and it was seen to in under four of Earth's hours. While all this was going on, _Optimus_ of all mechs was applying temporary patches to the other two's cables until Ratchet could see to them. Ratchet's time on Ketchup and Mustard was a lot quicker, he re-did Optimus' emergency welding so it was more stable and attached a medical grade energon and coolant drip, with more nanites in so the welding would heal quicker. Ratchet seemed to take glee, though, in having to leave the scratches and dents in the two - for 'medical' reasons of course.

When he finally came out from behind the drapes, Cloudstriker had drifted off into a painful recharge on her stomach plating, her wings were healing and too sensitive to lie back on still but her cockpit was painfully crushed down due to her weight. She couldn't turn her pain receptors off either, too much use of them wore a Cybertronian down and tired them out. Ratchet did a quick scan to check her vitals before going into his office, it had been a long few hours and all he wanted was some peaceful recharge. Of course, before that he had to comm. Optimus, who had left once he'd finished his welding, about how the emergency operations went. Sighing, he sat down behind his enormous desk and opened the link. _**"Ratchet to Optimus, can you hear me?"**_

"_**Loud and clear, Ratchet."**_

"_**Surgery went well, their conditions are stable, I'll write a full report in the morning about it."**_

"_**It's more than we could've hoped. Thank you, Ratchet."**_

"_**It's my job, Optimus. I'll talk to you next solar cycle."**_

"_**Goodnight, Ratchet."**_

And the comm. link was terminated.

Ratchet moved from behind his desk to his berth, it was calling to him almost begging him to lie down and recharge away his worries for hours on end (After all, it could've been the last good night of recharge he got knowing those two... _slaggers _that were resting away in there). Before he let his optics dim, he made a mental note to write a rule list - not that the two lug nuts in there would follow them. Then again, Prowl was always there to keep them in line. Well hopefully anyway, he felt sorry for him and Cloudstriker being stuck in there with them; at least he could escape elsewhere sometimes. Sighing with the renewed stress weighing down on his shoulder plates, he relaxed and finally offlined his optics, allowing his consciousness to slip away into his processor projections.

**...**

Ratchet's optics onlined abruptly as the alarm he'd set on his chronometer blared. He sat up slowly, joints creaking in tiredness. He could definitely have done with a few more hours of recharge, but he needed to check up on his patients to check they were still stable and to scan them. Shifting his pedes onto the floor, he sat there for a second before stretching the kinks out of his cables and rubbing his optics. Suddenly his HUD started flashing; he needed to consume energon, his tanks were low. Not low as in nearly empty, but without a doubt they needed some fuel or his tanks would rumble and _that _would be embarrassing... Especially as he was the chief medical officer.

After filling up, he briskly walked out of the office and in to the med bay, _his _med bay if you wanted to get picky. Ratchet scanned Prowl first; he was the most badly damaged and the drip attached to him that was running low. He changed it before turning to Sideswipe's berth next, thanking Primus the bugger hadn't woken up yet, as unlikely as it was in the first place. He made some adjustments to the type of energon and again checked his vitals before doing the same for Sunstreaker. Then he walked across the room to where Cloudstriker was just coming out of recharge.

"Good morning, Cloudstriker." He was testing her knowledge on human customs and greetings again.

"Good jo- I mean good morning to you as well Ratchet." She concealed her slip up with a staticy cough; however those little coughs were getting less and less convincing as cover ups (Not that they worked well in the beginning anyway) simply because her condition was improving. Ratchet raised a brow plate at her in amusement, one of the only outward signs he would show of it in his professional mode, e.g. All the time.

"What was that, a little slip up?"

"Nope, perfect phrasing I think." She smiled cheekily at him, even managing to throw a little human slang into her response. Snorting, Ratchet rolled his optics at her in amusement and scanned her again to check her progress. She winced as he did it, never really used to the weird prickly feeling it sent up her chassis. It wasn't painful just... odd, as if her entire body had what the humans called 'Pins and needles' only it went up her frame in waves. "Did you really have to do that without telling me?"

"Yes."

Cloudstriker grumbled at that _'Smart aft...' _coming out of her somewhat disgruntled thoughts, she asked "So, what's the prognosis?" deciding to leave it; no one could win a verbal fight with Ratchet.

"I should think you'll be out of here in a week or two, depending on how much progress the nanites in your energon make on repairs. They seems sluggish, I may have to intervene." He was confused at what was causing Cloudstriker's nanites to be so lethargic, thinking over the possible explanations in his processor but in the end he almost completely dismissed it. _'Probably just because they aren't used to the amount of injuries she sustained. Then again, it has been a week...' _Ratchet was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice Cloudstriker trying to get his attention; she had to resort to attempting to reach up and wave her hand in his face which caused pain to shoot up the cabling in her arm. Cringing, she retracted it bringing it close to her chassis, finally getting his attention.

"What's wrong with your arm?" he asked, instantly what little joking was in his expression was gone from his face plates, he was professional Ratchet again.

"Nothing, it just hurt a little. Probably just left over from the crash. Anyway, the sluggish nanites won't harm me, correct?" she was a little concerned now, especially with how he seemed to think a lot about it, maybe it _was_ something to worry about.

Ratchet peered at her suspiciously but replied with no further comment, it didn't seem to be bothering her anymore anyway "It shouldn't do anything other than slow down the healing process a little. You should be fine."

Cloudstriker let out an air intake with relief, she didn't need to breath but it helped to keep her core temperature down and didn't waste as much energy as the cooling fans. She'd be okay for the time being, there wasn't as much to worry about and put on her shoulder plates.

Suddenly Ratchet remembered his conversation with Optimus the night before _'Slag.' _"Cloudstriker, I need to write a report about the new arrivals. Call for me if anything happens, you have my comm. frequency."

She nodded as best she could "Of course, Ratchet. I'll talk to you later." He nodded good bye and turned back to his office for a boring few hours to say the least.

**...**

**A/N "what if they decided to do to her whatever they did to Ratchet?" Totally didn't mean for that sound as dirty as it did xD Ooer. And by bonded I don't mean spark bonded, I just mean like trine bonded – no romance between CS and any of her trine mates, or Ratchet for that matter. I think a paternal bond is more their kind of thing ;D Sorry if this seems too fillerish, I got carried away. And couldn't resist ruining Sunny's paint job.**

**Anna Cahill: Heyy, thanks for the review! I thought I might put some of the other bots in, make it more interesting. I'm glad you like it and I'm trying to include detail without getting 'purple prose-y'. Thanks for the advice **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N So, here we are at chapter four. Yay, the plot will start moving sooner now :D Thanks again for the reviews and enjoy!**

"_**This means a 'bot/'con is comm. linking"**_

**Disclaimer: Hasbro owns Transformers, not me. Yep, forgot the disclaimer for the last three chapters, oops :L**

**...**

When Ratchet left to do his reports, Cloudstriker had time to think and that wasn't a good thing - well for her at least. The worry of the sluggish nanites had been added to her recovery and the fact that her friends hadn't landed yet. That was something her processor wandered back to a lot; '_Where in the universe were they?' _Cloudstriker tried to take her thoughts off it (She seemed to be doing it a lot lately) and focused on the new arrivals. The privacy curtain had been taken away that morning when Ratchet had been doing his rounds, checking on everyone, so she had a clear view of the damage.

All she could think was _'I'm glad I wasn't _that _bad.' _In fact, she had been incredibly lucky coming away from the collision without any limbs ripped off or her optics blown out but her paint was just as messed up, like the mechs opposite her. Turning to the other two, she took in their appearance. Red and Yellow, Ketchup and Mustard. Of course their paint jobs were barely showing through the scratches and damage, but their injuries weren't too major, compared to Black-and-White. She finished her not so medically accurate and 'thorough' examination and took to staring into space, trying to clear her processor. Life was definitely monotonous in the med bay without Ratchet threatening people and the examinee grumbling or attempting escape. In fact it was almost creepy with three lifeless mechs across the room.

Just as Cloudstriker was about to offline her optics to try and recharge the day away, Optimus strode in, almost certainly looking for Ratchet. He looked towards her and smiled kindly, before his gaze swept to where the other invalids lay. The smile dropped and he frowned before turning to knock on Ratchet's office door.

**...**

'_Slag, slag, slag, slag, _slag_!' _Ratchet cursed to himself a few minutes earlier, as he tried to finish his report. If only he hadn't got caught up talking with Cloudstriker... Well, Optimus could wait for it if he wanted it to be detailed and well written. Nodding to himself, he turned his thoughts back to finishing the arduous report when he heard a ping on his comm. receiver. Annoyed, he let out a heavy sigh _'This'd better be good.'_

"_**Optimus to Ratchet."**_

Ahh, so it was Prime – probably wondering where his information was. _**"Hello Prime, I suspect you're waiting for the analysis?"**_

There was a chuckle over the link _**"How did you guess? I will be down shortly for it, if that is fine."**_

"_**...Yes, that's fine." **_Ratchet terminated the link, dragging a servo over his face plating with only one word (unsurprisingly) running through his processor.

'_Slag.'___

He began writing furiously on his datapads, frag checking for typos (Despite what he'd told himself earlier, he hated holding others up – especially Prime), finishing the last sentence just as there was a knock on his office door. Thank Primus for his good timing.

"It's open." He called out, looking at Prime as he stepped over the threshold into the brightly lit room. Ratchet nodded at Optimus in greeting and in response there came a "Good morning." The Cybertronians where trying to utilise these Earth sayings in everyday conversations so it would eventually become more natural and not confuse the soldiers.

Ratchet got up from his seat and stretched slightly, the huge chair provided was hardly soft on his back struts, and reached for the datapad in front of him. "The analyses on my patients." He handed it to Prime before telling him the most important parts of his observations "All seem to be stable, despite being severely wounded, it's surprising they're all in one piece – Primus knows how they managed to crash with Prowl on there, I'm pretty sure he was one of the better pilots. I think it may have been Decepticons, though I don't know why they'd be acting without Megatron. Cloudstriker is healing well, but the nanites in her energon seem to be acting lethargic, further observation is needed until I can give an exact diagnosis." He reeled off the information easily to Optimus, whose brow plates gradually rose as the medic continued to talk.

"The Decepticons may be rogue or acting on their own, I will see if Ironhide can look into it. Is there anything you can do for Cloudstriker's nanites?"

"I'll need to run some more tests before I try anything drastic, but I think medical grade energon might do the trick." She had recently been taken down to a less concentrated form with fewer nanites; maybe it was just a reaction to that.

Optimus nodded "Thank you Ratchet, I will look over these in my office in greater detail. Let me know if there are any changes in their conditions."

"Of course, Prime. I will probably see you later."

"Good bye, Ratchet." And Optimus paced once more out of the office, briskly. He looked over at the berths for a while and saw the occupants all in recharge. Well three were in stasis, but it seemed like they were merely sleeping despite all the blatant damage. A sad frown pulled at his face plates and he carried on out into the hallway and towards his office.

**...**

_He was swimming in murky darkness, it felt as if he was trying to move through thick oil and it was getting worse until he came to a complete standstill. _

_Stranded._

_Trying to reach out with his bonds and comm. link to someone – _anyone_ – he struggled to move again before a voice halted his attempts. "Be still." The voice was familiar, as if the owner's name was on the tip of his glossa, just beyond reach. It was feminine and commanding, firm and everywhere around him. He almost didn't dare talking back. Almost._

"_Who are you? And where am I? Pit, where are _you? _Why can't I move-"_

"_Patience, youngling. All will become clear in time."_

"_Doesn't seem that way does it?" Sarcasm crept into his tone, noting the swirling gloom around him. Really, the sarcasm was just a cover for his fear – after all, he had just been dumped in this world of shadows with some creepy voice reverberating around him and calling him a _sparkling_ no less._

"_All will become clear." She repeated the same line once more, more firm than before as if she was completely right. Sunstreaker scoffed at this, no one but Primus knew all._

"_And I'm supposed to believe a voice with no body?" Anger slithered into his voice now taking the place of terror, how dare this femme pretty much declare herself on a level with the creator of all creators, what with all this prophesising? At least that's how it seemed to him._

"_It's a lot to ask of you, youngling, but you will see... you will see." She seemed to know something that Sunstreaker didn't, which aggravated him all the more. Now it seemed like she was mocking him and out of the many hundreds of things Sunstreaker hated, that was one of his top five. (He even had a compiled list; he had had plenty of time on his hands floating through space)._

_The thoughts of the many vorns spent drifting through the cosmos triggered something in him. Pain flared all around him and the murky world he was quickly coming to despise seemed to crack, everything coming into harsh focus. Angular splits were cutting through the mist and darkness and shafts of light where gleaming through, it was as if the 'room' he'd been in was a globe of glass someone had dropped._

_The voice began talking again "You are fighting out of this world, youngling, you are waking."_

"_I'm not a youngling." He managed out of gritted dentas. Although he was relieved to be nearly out of this nightmare place, he could've done without the searing, white hot pain and being called such a patronising designation time and again._

_The world shattered._

_Cold, white light glared at him, causing him to shutter his optics. The last thing he saw was of the dark whirls of fog dissipating, gliding away from him and the light._

_**...**_

A few days later, Cloudstriker was woken from an already uncomfortable recharge with another jolt of pain in her servo, the same one from before. Wincing, she waited for it to pass but it had other ideas. The sting continued up her arm and eventually made it to her chest plating before dissipating. Allowing her face plates to relax from the grimace they had scrunched into, she sighed in relief before checking her chronometer. _'Four in the morning?' _Cloudstriker was surprised, she had been sleeping for eleven hours now, but supposed it was her chassis initiating a repair protocol or something to boost her healing time. Even so, she felt sluggish as though she hadn't had an hour of sleep, let alone eleven.

Ratchet wasn't up either, so there was no bot to talk to. He deserved his rest though; he had done so much for her, repairing her frame even if it was obligatory. Cloudstriker didn't want to wake him for something that seemed as trivial as an after-pain. Sighing, she settled back in to the awkward sleeping position she had had to adapt into: on her stomach. It wasn't so bad now she was used to it, but it did cause her stomach plates and cockpit to feel as though they were being crushed under her weight. Skids and Mudflap often joked around, saying she was fat or putting on the pounds when she mentioned this. Of course, they were 'impending for a bending' to quote a popular Earth cartoon.

Movement in the berths across the room caught her optic though, just as she was about to offline them. She thought she saw Ketchup (As she had dubbed him after seeing the condiment on the internet, plus no one had actually told her the new arrival's names yet) shifting, but dismissed it. _'Probably just a trick of the light...' _she thought idly before drifting off into recharge.

_**...**_

However, it wasn't a trick of the light, or her optics playing tricks on her, Sideswipe really was beginning to come out of stasis. He was the most likely to wake up first as he had sustained less injuries than Prowl or his twin, but it was still early considering the severity of his injuries. He certainly felt them too, as a wave of pain ripped through his helm. He groaned and turned over, trying to find a comfier position for his head. Come to think of it, his entire body felt as if it had been stomped on by Devastator.

The pain was inescapable, even as he tried to take his mind off it; it kept on slithering back, like an unrelenting scraplet. "...Slag..." he rasped under his breath, two questions in his processor _'How long has it been since I last had energon... and where the Pit's Sunny?' _ He began panicking, optics darting madly around in desperation, before his rarely used logic centre sprang to life. _'The bond hasn't been cut, so he must be online _somewhere_... but where?'_

Sunstreaker was closer than he thought.

His optics fell on the bot on the berth beside him, obviously still in stasis lock. He would've laughed in relief, although it would've been a weird, slightly hysterical sound and Sideswipe wasn't often hysterical. He couldn't be, given he was a front liner but if someone hurt Sunny... well they wouldn't be there the next orbit and vice versa for Sunstreaker. Heaven forbid anyone harmed the other's twin. His frame relaxed anyway, the pain had relented slightly in its persistent attacks and it was apparent they were in Autobot servos anyway; no Decepticon would ever look after them like this. Hell, they'd be shoved in some dank cell and left to rot or be used as some sort of punching bag. The Twin Terrors hadn't exactly been merciful when it came to their enemies; clearly they had been the exact opposite what with it being a _war_ and all.

Sighing, he let himself sink into happy memories of him and his brother ripping apart Decepticon glitches, although Sunny was of course more ruthless. _'Psychopath...' _Sideswipe thought affectionately as he drifted off into recharge once more.

_**...**_

That all occurred a few hours ago however, now it was around nine in the morning. Cloudstriker was awaking from a not so peaceful recharge and Ratchet was (of course) already up and running his usual checks, he liked to 'run a tight ship' so to speak. He turned to scan Cloudstriker and groaned loudly before onlining her optics. "Can't that wait until I'm actually awake?"

"No." Was the simple reply, same as always. This had fit into his routine as well, Cloudstriker would grumble about his 'constant' scans (Ratchet didn't see how they were constant, they were only three times a day...) and Ratchet would reply with something sarcastic. He had to admit, he liked getting the upper hand on her sometimes.

Cloudstriker huffed, but let him finish. He was the medic after all, and a damn good one at that. She saw Ratchet nod to himself, deeming everything as normal before speaking again "All seems to be well, the nanites appear to be responding to the medical grade energon." A few days before he had told her about how he was upping the grade and asked if it was okay with her. She had agreed, without a doubt believing that Ratchet knew best – after all, it wasn't as if she knew what was going on with those blasted nanites or, in fact, how to fix them.

"Well at least that's sorting its self out." She told him, forgetting about the ache that had jolted up her arm the night before; it wasn't like it was important. Ratchet nodded to her before moving onto the others across from her.

There had been no change to Prowl's condition, other than his nanites were beginning to work their magic, he could see the shiny silver matter almost foaming over the injuries. He gave the unconscious mech an in depth scan before jotting down his findings on the datapad. He repeated the process moving over to Sunstreaker, whose nanites were also hard at work. When he got to Sideswipe however, he stared. _'How could the mech change position? I could've sworn he was on his back rather than his side...' _shaking this off, he continued with the necessary scans before turning to Cloudstriker once more.

"Did he move during the night?"

"Who, Ketchup?" she paused and Ratchet gave her an odd look but nodded. She didn't notice this though, as she searched her memory banks for anything helpful "I recall seeing something move out of the corner of my optic, but I thought it was just a trick of the light. Why?"

"Because he was meant to be in stasis and seems to have moved. One minute, Cloudstriker." Ratchet had decided to comm. link Ironhide, seeing as he had the pure _luck _to be on monitor duty again. _'Still,' _he supposed _'At least with the new bots it'll be spread more evenly.' _Ironhide would definitely be pleased with that.

"_**Ratchet to Ironhide."**_

"_**What is it?"**_

"_**I need to footage from around 2100 hours yesterday to 0900 hours today, can you send them over?"**_

"'_**Course I can." **_There was a ping in Ratchet's comm. receiver a moment that let him know that Ironhide had indeed sent over the files.

"_**Thanks, Ironhide."**_

"_**Don't mention it." **_And he terminated the comm. link. Ratchet opened the files, checking to see if it was all there, nodding in satisfaction before turning his attention to Cloudstriker. "I will be in my office. As always, comm. me if you need anything."

Cloudstriker waved good bye before Ratchet retreated to his office, flinching as pain travelled once more up her arm. _'This is getting to be a daily occurrence.' _She thought morosely before settling down to wallowing in self pity. She wasn't usually like that, but crashing does that to you somehow, even if you are recovering. _'I wonder what's happening with Ketchup anyway, Ratchet sure was acting strange.'_

_**...**_

Here he was again, in his office – just after getting out too. Sighing, Ratchet settled as much as he could into his uncomfortable metal chair to review the twelve hours of footage. He wouldn't stay in the office for that long – hell no, he was beginning to hate the dreary space – he'd just fast forward it until what he needed popped up. He was just opening the files once more but realised he should tell Prime about what he may have discovered. He opened another comm. link _**"Ratchet to Optimus."**_

"_**Hello, Ratchet, what do you need?"**_

"_**I suspect that Sideswipe may have awakened during the night, I'm reviewing the recordings of my med bay for any evidence."**_

"_**Thank you for letting me know, old friend. Comm. me if you discover anything."**_

"_**Of course, Prime." **_And another comm. link was terminated.

Turning back to the task at hand, he finally opened the waiting files and began the monotonous task he was dreading. He'd rather be on monitor duty (Though it was much the same thing) than suffer through this.

_**...**_

Even with the fast forwarding, it still took Ratchet three hours or so to get to the part he'd been waiting for. Seeing Sideswipe twitch on the film, he put it down to normal speed and saw as the mech tossed and turned (_'And probably straining the welding' _Ratchet noted, optics narrowing slightly) then onlined his optics, most likely looking for his twin. Ratchet saw the twin beams of blue light settle on Sunny before they shuttered out. Sideswipe had almost certainly over-exerted himself and fallen back into either recharge or stasis.

This was all ratchet needed to see. He isolated the video clip and sent it to Optimus; it wasn't long before he got a reply.

"_**Received, Ratchet. I will meet you in the Med Bay in around five minutes to discuss this."**_

"_**I'll be here." **_Obviously. Ratchet terminated the comm. link again and sat back for a minute before gathering himself and entering his Med Bay to examine Sideswipe quickly before Prime got there, just in case.

_**...**_

**A/N Late I know, but I've been busy Christmas shopping C: It's my favourite time of year! My friend got me a Bumblebee poster which is pretty great, it has his alt. form on it as well :D happiness. Anyways, how was this chapter? A little boring with hardly any Prowl, but I just want to get out of the 'Med Bay arc' as my friend dubbed it :L**

**Happy Holidays! xx**


End file.
